Dell Business Portal
Comparison of Dell desktop lines
American Office Solutions is an official partner of Dell Inc.
Dell offers three main lines of computers:
Inspiron: The Inspiron is a budget series of desktops ideal for basic home use such as web browsing. Among the most affordable line of Dell computers, some can be had for as little as $300. These make great starter computers for kids who are just learning computing in one’s home environment.
Optiplex: Since 2001, Dell has produced the Optiplex desktop series for business and enterprise customers. The Optiplex offers an excellent price to performance ratio (or, colloquially speaking, lots of “bang for the buck”) and comes standard with an impressive 3-year warranty. The Optiplex is available in several form factors, including a conventional tower size as well as a small form factor to give you more room to work. The longevity and popularity of this series is a testament to its many strengths.
Precision: For power users with resource-intensive applications such as CAD or other 3D modeling software, the Precision line of desktops offers high performance for business clients. The Precision series accomplishes all that the Optiplex series is capable of and more, with customization options available to increase the performance to meet the needs of any specialized software program.
Comparison of Dell laptop lines
Since the discontinuation of the Vostro in 2013, there are two primary lines of Dell laptops:
Inspiron: like the desktop series, the Inspiron line of laptops represents the low end of the market in terms of price, performance, and features. The Inspiron has a polycarbonate/ABS plastic frame and is best suited to basic tasks like browsing the web and running word processing programs. This model lacks many of the features offered by the Latitude line, but is a great entry-level option for home users on a budget and features a 1-year warranty.
Latitude: with more features, including a thin, light, and durable magnesium-alloy frame and a higher standard of performance, the Latitude series is ideal for business users who need portability. This series has free-fall sensors that detect a drop of as little as 5 inches and immediately shut down the hard drive to protect crucial data as well as a spill-resistant keyboard to protect against the most common types of accidents. Most Latitude models also feature a 3-year warranty with Dell’s next business day (NBD) support.
Life-cycle cost (LCC)
Business owners know that when it comes to purchasing equipment, one must consider the cost of the purchase amortized over its entire lifetime. For instance, if one purchases an Inspiron for $400 and its expected life cycle is two years, the business is spending $800 every four years. In contrast, procuring a better computer for $600 every 5 years represents a savings of $600 over the course of 10 years. See the spreadsheet below for an illustration of this savings.
As the above spreadsheet indicates, the annual cost of ownership of the Optiplex is significantly lower (25%) for the system that, at first glance, would appear to be more expensive. This only reflects the cost of the equipment, and not the higher maintenance and downtime costs of the lower end Inspiron desktop.